AMERICAN MUSEUMS 



29 



observer as being especially characteristic. The insects, 

 however, at once attract attention ; the grand blue morpho 

 butterflies ; the exquisite catagrammas, with their fantastic 

 markings beneath ; the immense variety of the Heliconoid 

 butterflies, with their elongated wings and antennae and 

 striking colouration, and the wonderful variety and beauty 



FlG. 3. SOUTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



of the little Erycinidse, a family almost confined to South 

 America. Among other insects we notice the strangely- 

 formed and fantastically-coloured harlequin-beetle; the 

 huge rhinoceros-beetle ; the large lanthorn-fly, and many 

 others, as being equally peculiar. 



Passing next to the room which illustrates the opposite 

 continent of Africa, we are presented with a contrast in 

 the forms of life at once marvellous and interesting. 

 From the poorest continent in mammals we pass to the 



